


Ignite

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Gen, Necromancy!AU, One-Shot, Re-upload, Ring Battle Arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2016-09-30
Packaged: 2018-08-18 16:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8168096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: In which the term 'Dying Will Flames' is taken a bit more literally.(Basically everything is canon but necromancy is a thing. Tsuna cannot believe this is his life.) |Tumblr| |Twitter|





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [exocara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/exocara/gifts).



> This is a reupload of a oneshot that was previously in my KHR collection, which was somehow eaten by the internet. I don't know either, and I have since gotten a new computer, meaning this was the only ficlet I could save.
> 
> Eh. It was the best one, anyway.
> 
> For [exocara](http://archiveofourown.org/users/exocara), since the original collection was originally gifted to them, too, for being my KHR inspiration. Sorry if you see this pop up somewhere and think it's something new, because it's not! Just me, being unlucky with technology as usual.
> 
> Um, the original fic collection is still up on my ff.net profile though, if anyone is curious. I'm rarely over there anymore, and I pretty much only keep it running out of nostalgia and as a back up, so pretty much most of my old fics (read: shames) are over there, including A Sky Full Of Stars (the KHR collection).

Tsuna sighed as he tripped over the still bloodied legs of the corpse that was, surprise surprise, laying spread-eagled on his kitchen floor. Goddammit, this was the third one this week, and it was only Tuesday. Specifically, seven am on a Tuesday.

Far too early for Reborn's corspe shenanigans.

Ever since the baby Necromancer had blown into his life with the dreaded words 'tutor' and 'Iemitsu,' placed close together, Tsuna had resigned himself to a life of literal graveyard shifts. He didn't like it, but what he liked less was the idea of not learning how to control his powers and just continuously Reanimating anything within a mile or so of him. (At first it had just been corpses, but recently he'd somehow graduated to plants, much to the bafflement of everyone 'in the know.' Reborn had expressed his annoyance with his stupid students reluctance to conform to what was known with a graciously granted day off school, and a metric fuck-ton of bullets.)

Tsuna had agreed to let Reborn tutor him in the so called 'Dark Arts,' as to perform reanimation cost the Necromancer something called 'Dying Will,' and if you burned it all up, well, you died.

Necromancy really wasn't a very efficient magical art, and Tsuna despaired over the fact that of course it was all he was capable of learning, due to his 'heritage.'

"Reborn!" He called out. "You really need to stop leaving dead bodies in the kitchen!"

A sudden impact to the head. "Don't tell me what to do, Dame Tsuna. If you want the corpse gone, Reanimate it and make it go yourself."

Tsuna sighed. Of course this was the whole point behind the corpse parade. Of course it was merely a lesson.

He placed his hands on the cold, stiff body. Reborn's tutelage of him had begun with a month in a morgue, and then another in a funeral home. Any squeamishness left after that had been beaten out of him, so he didn't even flinch at the fact that what he was holding was a corpse that had once been a person.

Warmth flooded through Tsuna - the warmth of 'the Flames of life,' an aspect of the Dying Will. Tsuna himself was Sky class, which was why he was so adept at the art he had been taught, even if he did not want to admit it himself. His Flames and Will seeped into the body beneath him and the air _hummed_ as Tsuna's flames synchronized with the cold, dead channels of the dead boy's flame circuits.

 _Storm?_ he mused, tilting his head as he delved deeper, eyes wide open and orange; unblinking, unseeing. _But that doesn't make sense...Reborn is a sun, so he can only Reanimate another sun..._

It turned out, the corpse held at least one circuit of all Flame classes except for mist and sky. Storm was definitely the boys primary though, and Tsuna reached out with his sky to fill those channels first, sparking his orange into red with a twist. By the time he had reached the still warm sun-circuits, he was exhausted, and kind of worried about how much Will he had expended on this one corpse.

He topped off the last circuit, and used his Sky harmonizing factor to spark all the channels into motion at once. Reborn wouldn't have been able to gain full movement off the corpse, only being able to fill up a small portion of its circuits, but the silver-haired boy was now filled with Flames of all classes that originated from a pure Sky. Moving him - it - should've been easy.

But of course, when you're Tsuna, nothing is easy. A mental nudge sent along the link between living and dead Flame channels, a quick spark of Fiamma volts - and no reaction. The corpse did not stand or leave the kitchen. No, he pushed himself into a sitting position, held his hands out in front of his face, and blinked. Blinked eyes that were rapidly clearing from the clouded rot of death and were actually a deep, crystalline green.

"What the _hell_...?" The corpse muttered.

Tsuna blinked. Reborn blinked. _What the hell_ summed it up pretty nicely. Pre-emptively, Tsuna braced for impact. His tutor was _not_ happy.

"Tsuna," the cursed baby said flatly, and Tsuna winced at the lack of a 'Dame' prefix. "That was _not_ Reanimation."

"Ah, no," he agreed, somewhat frantically. "I don't believe it was."

"Reawakening," Reborn continued. His tone, if possible, flattened out even more. "It is a power to bring back the dead with sentience, and their own Will. A self-sustaining Un-lifeform. It has not been recorded within a living being since Primo's time."

Tsuna squeaked. He'd read the books Reborn had thrown at him when it became clear he knew literally nothing of Necromancy, Flames or the Dying Will. Daemon Spade, his ancestors guardian of Mist, had been a Reawakened. It was apparently an old wives tale among the Vongola that he was still around - after all, those who are Reawakened neither age nor grow sick, and there were no records of the first Vongola mist being killed.

Now that Reborn had finished delivering the context for his punishment, it seemed it was time for the violence to begin.

Tsuna liked to think that Leon gave him a look of sympathy before transforming into Reborn's favoured 'punishment gun,' as he thought of it.

The silver haired corpse boy seemed to have finally come to terms with the situation, and did not seem all that happy over Reborn's treatment of Tsuna. "Hey," he snapped at the armed and dangerous baby. "Don't harm the Tenth."

 _Tenth?_ Tsuna thought somewhat hysterically, dodging bullets. _Wasn't that supposed to be secret? How does he know about that!_

Reborn blinked.

Then he smiled, and Tsuna felt his soul leave him. "Congratulations, Dame student of mine," he said. "You've found yourself a Storm. Family, acquired."

The silver haired corpse boy blinked at Reborn. Then he blinked at Tsuna.

And then he sparkled. Tsuna blinked, as for a second he swore he could see ears and a wagging tail.

"Really?" Corpse boy enthused. "Me, the Vongola Tenth's Storm? I swear, I'll serve and protect you with my life!"

("Un-life," Reborn muttered.

Tsuna just groaned.

"I'm Hayato Gokudera!" Corpse boy - Gokudera - said. "My loyalty is yours, Tenth!")

"Tsuna," Tsuna said. "Call me Tsuna."

("Call him Dame-Tsuna."

"Tsuna-sama, then."

Tsuna groaned.)

[X]

Of course, because this is his life now, it doesn't end there. Yamamato jumps off the roof, kills himself, and Tsuna feels awful because it was all his fault.

("It _really_ wasn't, Tenth - ah, that is to say, Tsuna-sama."

"Shut up," Reborn muttered to Gokudera. "He does things when he's emotional. It's interesting."

Gokudera looked at the cursed baby like he was insane. It was quickly becoming a signature look for him.)

It's nothing more than instinct to lay his hands on the broken, bloody corpse, ignoring the whispers and yells and jeers and screams that come at him from all sides, including inside of himself, where his Flames are burning in rage as his Will sobs in guilt-ridden anguish.

 _I can fix this_ , Tsuna tells himself, wills - _Wills_ \- it to be true. Eyes glow orange and Sky sinks into still feebly sparking channels that had never been awakened in life but had somehow reacted to their wielders suicidal jump.

 _He changed his mind_ , those faint impressions of Flame sparks tell him. _He didn't want to die. He wanted someone to care, someone to save him._

And as Sky twists to Rain, orange into blue, Tsuna is crying.

Yamamato - Takeshi - blinks open confused eyes and wonders if this is the afterlife. Tsuna gathers him in a crushing hug and sobs into his chest, never mind that they don't really know each other and have spoken all of one time.

Takeshi knows, the same way Gokudera did, just who Tsuna is now, what Tsuna has done to - _for_ \- him. _He cares,_ the Rain thinks as his arms come up to hold Tsuna as well. _I'm not alone_ , and then he is crying too.

Reborn doesn't have to say a thing, though Tsuna can feel his smug grin radiating towards him from a mile away.

Because - yes, Tsuna doesn't want the Vongola. Doesn't want to head a mafia family - _the_ mafia family, and _especially_ does not want to deal in the arcane. But he can't deny the pull of his blood and Flames any more than he can deny the calls of his Elements. A Sky is not made to be empty. So, yes, Tsuna knows what this is. This is _Harmony_ , and this boy he holds, this beautiful, broken, yet-still-strong swallow-spirit of a boy is his rain.

(Family, acquired.)

[X]

This is quickly becoming the norm for Tsuna, because _what even is his life anymore_.

(It's insane, of course, but Tsuna's not about to admit that out loud. The universe might hear him, and take it as a challenge.)

 _Escaped criminals_ , Reborn says. _Very dangerous_ , Reborn tells him. _Slaughtered families_ , Reborn delivers the finishing blow.

"We should probably leave this to the professionals," Tsuna tells him.

 _Sure, sounds like fun,_ Reborn hears.

It's times like these Tsuna really hates his father.

(Honestly, he feels that he should probably be hating Reborn, but the crazy baby hitman is goddamn psychic, and hatred towards his tutor would be detrimental towards both Tsuna's health and continued existence.)

So, there's a megalomaniac possessing all his friends, for some reason Kyoya Hibari is there, beaten and...dying? Yes, definitely dying, Tsuna can feel his waning Will; there are prisoners to worry about, such as Lancia and some kid called Fuuta, and Reborn is, of course, _being fucking useless_ , as he usually is in these kinds of situations. His tutor definitely likes throwing him into the deep end with no security net.

(Tsuna knows that if things got really dire, Reborn _would_ step in - but until then, Tsuna is on his own, and he knows he is the only one really indispensable to the Vongola. So if his guardians die a second time, they can be replaced. Tsuna literally _can't_.

This doesn't make him feel any better.)

Somehow, by some miracle, Tsuna wins. Leon did... _something_ , and then in turn Reborn did something, and those somethings connected with Tsuna as the catalyst, and _he_ did something.

Tsuna had thought by that point he had known his Flames and Will pretty well. Two years of training and while nowhere close to mastery, at least adept.

(Boy, was he wrong)

For the first time, Tsuna understands what Reborn is going on about when he tells Tsuna to always do things with his 'Dying Will.' For the first time, his flames are not just some abstract, internal construct or ideal he wields in Necromancy. They are real, they are external, they are _burning_ a fierce, pure orange, and Tsuna knows with clarity, in that second, he is deadly. He is the definition of lethal and no-one, short of maybe Reborn, is capable of stopping him.

But he does not wish to cause harm. Like this, he is the definition, the embodiment, of the Sky Reborn tells him he is. And as the Sky encompasses all, it sees all.

Tsuna sees Mukuro, and Mukuro _hurts_ him.

(If he is a Sky, shouldn't he be able to _fix_ this?)

His Flames, so lethal and deadly, soften and their heat becomes a lulling warmth. He lunges for Mukuro, presses palms to face and _pushes_.

Mukuro _screams_. He screams Rage. He screams Pain. He screams Betrayal and Fear and old hurts never healed. Tsuna rips those wounds wide open, exposes them to the light of the sky they had never hoped to see again, whispers reassurances, says, _I am here._

Says, _I am not leaving_.

And now Mukuro is crying, and Tsuna is crying, and all his friends are crying because they are possessed and a part of the skymistharmony.

Hatred, Mukuro throws at him. Bloodlust too, and Killing Intent. _I harmed your town,_ the mist whispers as tendrils snake around his sky, two strong Wills clashing. _I hurt your people_.

Tsuna ignores him. _I will not force you,_ he whispers back, sky welcoming the mist, beckoning, come closer. _I will not hurt you like others have hurt you._

Trust, Tsuna gives willingly to Mukuro. And offers, for the future, Family.

Mukuro stills, eyes swollen red and wide, hair greasy and a mess, trembling. Hope, Tsuna senses, so tentative and scared and new.

But Tsuna feels pleased, because this is a breakthrough, because now Mukuro can maybe, possibly, heal and be safe.

(Of course, that is when the Vindice arrive.

And of course, they fuck everything up.)

This is how it goes:

The others are slowly coming back from their possession, shaking their still clouded heads as they return to themselves.

Reborn is watching from the shadows, fedora tilted down and expression dark.

Tsuna stands front and centre. He has long since left Hyper Dying Will Mode, but as always, with something to fight for and protect, his fangs and claws shine deadly and magnificent. Reborn isn't sure why his student is so dead set on Mukuro, but this is the first family member he has truly fought for. The others came to him, chose him. Mukuro is the first one he has actively _wanted_ to claim as his own.

Mukuro stands behind Tsuna. His eyes, fixed upon the Vindice, are terrified (broken), but his body and face are smooth, relaxed.

Finally, Tsuna apparently stalls one second too long or oversteps one line too many, and the Vindice snap. Chains snap out, sharp ended, with intent to kill, aiming for Tsuna.

Mukuro lunges in front of the sky, the one who could've been - _would've been_ \- _his_ sky - and then -

\- _ripping tearing screaming breaking **agony**_ **.**

(Mukuro has, of course, felt worse. But as black encroaches his vision and the Vindice leave, their job done, and Tsuna is leaning over him, eyes panicked and tearful, _his_ eyes slipping closed, he feels as if this knowledge won't reassure the little sky.

No. It would probably just hurt him more.)

[x]

"Tsuna?" Yamamato sounds cautious. That's a new one.

Tsuna's eyes are crystalline orange. They stare sightlessly forwards and tears slip from them, this small example of emotion breaking the mask of emptiness on the Sky's face and creating dissonance in his state of non-humanity.

His hands are on Mukuro, and the air is heavy with his Will.

It is clear what he is doing.

But Mukuro is not returning.

Tsuna doesn't understand. Mist Flames are elusive, yes, that is true, but Mukuro's channels should not be shying away from him like that. After all, they're dead.

( _The Six Paths_ , whispers a voice inside Tsuna's mind, and he wishes to scream _ragepainfrustration_.)

Tsuna tried. He tried so hard. But even he could not fix something this broken.

His hands shift on Mukuro's still form, and Flames spark from inner to outer, his whole body devoured by the orange blaze. After there is nothing left but ashes, Tsuna lets go of his Will and breaks down crying. The elements move in to stand by and comfort their grieving sky.

(Later that night, when Tsuna is curled and silent in his bed, Nana Sawada sends a worried look upstairs.

"Is he okay?" she questions Reborn. I-Pin and Lambo and the little boy they brought home with them - Fuuta - pause and look inquisitively at the baby. I-Pin and Lambo because they are concerned about the one they have adopted as older brother, and Fuuta because he's not entirely sure how Reborn intends to either explain all the ways in which this woman's son is not okay, or lie to her.

"He will be," Reborn says, and it is a promise. "I'll make sure of it. I came here to tutor your son, and that means more than just improving his grades."

Nana smiles at Reborn, and not for the first time he thinks she knows more than she normally lets on. "Thank you, Reborn," she says, and for one panicked second Reborn could have sworn he heard tones or shades of _Renato_ when she spoke his name.)

[X]

Tsuna is tired. That is probably the best and most accurate way to put it.

Yes, tired.

His Flames ache, and his Will is worn down, and yet Ryohei Sasagawa...is still dead.

Was this just going to be the norm from now on? He used to be so confident and quietly sure of himself when in the midst of his Will like this, but now, since failing Mukuro, failing him so deeply in the worst way, insecurities plague him whenever he so much as attempts to activate his Flame.

(Kyoko is crying, and that isn't helping with the whole confidence thing. She had come to Tsuna in the middle of class, panicked and blood covered and crying about her brother. "I remember what you did to Takeshi," she sobbed out, and Tsuna's blood had run cold. Only someone with active Flames should remember those events after all the effort the Vongola put into covering it up, and as he reaches out, he can sense her sun. "Please, you have to help my brother."

And Tsuna, well, he's been in love with Kyoko since grade school, ironically because of her smile, which he thought shone like the sun, and he doesn't want to turn her down and hurt her. Even more than that, Ryohei Sasagawa, for all his flamboyance and 'extremeness,' seems like a good guy, and he doesn't deserve to die.

Tsuna nods, and he and Kyoko rush out of the room, leaving behind a spluttering teacher, confused Yamamato, worried Hana, and glowering Gokudera.

Hibari watches the two exit the school grounds at a sprint from the rooftop, but does not make a move to follow or stop them. He remembers what the fluffy herbivore did the day that Takeshi Yamamato died, and he was there at Kokuyo Land, was there for Mukuro.

The Sawada boy had the potential to grow into an incredible predator if his blunted claws and wounded spirit were mended and sharpened properly, and Kyoya is not about to interfere in what could very well be the first step in the little animal's recovery.)

But Ryohei just won't wake up. It isn't like Mukuro, whose very body was so ingrained against and fearful of being reborn into the world a seventh time, and just wouldn't accept his flames. No, this is different.

As hard as it is to believe, even with his flames mostly dormant, Ryohei Sasagawa apparently spends about ninety percent of his time in Dying Will mode.

His channels are like the ground after a lightning storm. Damaged, torn up, blocked. They aren't connecting right, about half of them are burnt out like old fuses, and the Flames Tsuna pours into him are quickly sucked out.

Tsuna grits his teeth in frustration. Unlike with Mukuro, he _knows_ what the problem is. But just like with Mukuro, he _can't fix it_ \- it just isn't within his skill set.

But Kyoko is sobbing, and if Tsuna is one thing he is stubborn, and he will not bow to the reaper in this case.

His Flames _twist_ once again, from sun back to sky, and he allows pure orange to blast through Ryohei's body. Kyoko may or may not have screamed.

But it doesn't matter. Ryohei's body, damaged by a truck in a hit and run incident, was already damaged beyond repair. For the sake of Necromancy powered by Dying Will, all that matters is the state of the metaphysical Flame Waves, the channels, the circuits. Orange is sky. It is harmony and purification, and Tsuna forces those ideal against the almost damaging heat of Ryohei's sun, still burning brightly even in death.

 _Dying Will_ , Tsuna muses.

"Ryohei," he says, and is it just him, or is his voice layered with others. "Your sister is waiting for you. Wake up."

Orange once more twists into yellow, and Tsuna allows the nature of Necromancy to run its course as Ryohei's body pulls itself back together.

(There are tears, mostly of happiness. Kyoko is a blubbering mess, and Ryohei - Sasagawa-senpai - _onii-san -_ won't stop talking about how 'extreme' he is.

Tsuna can't help but smile himself. He is exhausted, sitting on sore knees and soaked in blood on the side of the road, but he is happy. For the first time since Mukuro, he feels somewhat like himself again. After all, that's the power of the sun, right? It hovers over the family, keeping them cheerful, keeping them warm. Their light, even in the darkest of times.

Reclining in a cafe somewhere nearby in Namimori proper, Reborn sips at his espresso and smiles. Even from this far away, he knows a sun when he feels one, and this time he feels _two_.

Family, acquired.)

"Thank you, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko whispers, gratitude shining in her eyes as her brothers grip around her tightens. " _Thank_ you."

(This is all Tsuna has wanted since he turned twelve and awakened his latent Necromancer blood - to help people, like he has helped the Sasagawa siblings.)

[x]

Tsuna now spends the majority of his time around dead people, but that is okay. By now, he's pretty much used to it, and at least Reborn has stopped bringing corpses home like souvenirs, even if only for fear that Tsuna might Reawaken all of them instead of merely Reanimate.

(Tsuna considers that train of thought for a while. Is it possible that he has become incapable of raising up a normal zombie-class corpse?

And then he shudders, _because did he really just ask himself that_ and _oh god why is this his life_.)

(About four-hundred-years earlier, Giotto, Ieyasu, Vongola Primo, sneezed.

"Maa, maa, that means someone is talking about you, you know?" Asari said mildly.

G snarled. "Who dares to talk about the Boss? _I'll kill them!_ "

Giotto sighed, because _of course_ these are his friends, and _of course_ this is his life.

"If you do not quiet down, I will arrest you."

Giotto squeaks.)

Back to the present, and Tsuna shivers as foreboding hits him. _Hibari_ , whispers his intuition.

 _Why?_ He wails back.

But because he has been taught, above all, to listen to Reborn first and his intuition second, and the hitman is currently asleep in his hammock with his eyes open, and Tsuna is going nowhere near _that_ particular sleeping bear, he takes the initiative and listens to his intuition.

(Yeah. He's probably going to regret this.)

[x]

Turns out, his intuition is right - but so is he. _So much_ regret.

He arrives in the shadows of the opening of a Namimori back alley just in time to see Hibari felled by the slash of a blade wielded by - is that _Sephiroth???_

No, that'd be stupid, but whether intentionally or unintentionally, the white haired foreigner of a swordsman is definitely emulating the popular character, and the mental playback of the one-winged-angel theme Tsuna's hamster mind so helpfully provides like a boss battle BGM soundtrack tells Tsuna to in no way, no _how_ , mess with this guy.

(It probably says something about Tsuna that his idea of fixing the problem is to wait for the guy to finish Hibari off, leave, and then run in and bring the skylark back from the dead, but he prefers not to dwell on this fact. Clearly spending all his time around animated corpses, morgues, funeral homes, _Reborn_ , and just his mother in general has warped him beyond repair.)

The guy _finally_ leaves, and Tsuna rushes to Hibari's side.

Huh. The demon prefect acutally looks kind of...peaceful, like this. Without all the anger and bloodlust clouding his face, he's actually kind of handsome.

And yeah, Tsuna's hopping off that train of thought _right this second now_ and getting onto the connecting _nope_ train, because that is a corpse, an _actual_ corpse, not a Reawakened one, and thinking things like that about dead people as if they are merely sleeping is the direct and exact opposite of a-okay.

So to block out his own crazy thoughts and despairing rambling on his entirely skewed moral compass, he summons his Will and pushes it through Hibari.

(To his relief, the cloud type - _should've known_ \- is quite possibly the easiest Reawakening he's done since Yamamato.)

Hibari doesn't even comment on his state or what Tsuna has done to him, even though he must know, as all those Reawakened by Tsuna just _know_.

Instead, his eyes gleam, and yep, the bloodlust is back.

("Fight me, herbivore."

"No way, you're dead, Hibari-san. Your internal limiters have been removed, and you were scary enough _without_ them.")

Tsuna gulps.

 _So_ much regret.

[x]

Reborn and his whole, 'telling you really important things that you should probably know but waiting until the last minute,' really isn't helping with _anything_ , either.

Succession issues. Assassination squads. Basically everything in Tsuna's life sucks right now, including his dead friends, who are all being really gung-ho about more than likely dying. Again.

Iemitsu, his deadbeat of a ridiculous Necromancer mafia dad (a sentence Tsuna never thought would actually make cohesive sense - and he was right, as it still doesn't, even after _years_ of knowing it) has tried to push him into claiming a mist - _any_ mist.

(Reborn has said nothing on the matter. Tsuna isn't sure if that is reassuring or not.)

"I refuse," Tsuna said for what had to be the hundredth time in that hour alone. "I don't need a mist."

Iemitsu sent a despairing gaze heavenward.

(Well. At least now Tsuna knows where he got his trademark 'what even,' look from.)

"You need a mist, Tsuna," he said. "Each advantage against the Varia counts."

"That's Tsunayoshi, to you," he corrected automatically. "And I won't be choosing any of my guardians because they are an _advantage_." Mukuro flashes in his minds eyes, the confidence and lethality of his sarcastic swagger and strength, the poison of his hatred towards the world, and the vulnerability of his inner self, the cold lock he held on his flames. "I don't need a mist," Tsuna repeated. "Nor do I want one."

Iemitsu didn't understand his son's obstinance.

(Tsuna didn't expect him too.)

[x]

They are doing okay until the battle for the mist ring. Tsuna holds the Vongola half ring of mist entrusted to his side in his pocket and he knows he will have to forfeit it though it leaves a bad taste in his mouth - something about the Varia is just _off_ , not least because he watched Squalo carve up Hibari, a civilian kid, no matter how much the skylark protested, like it was nothing.

They've lost more than they've won, and Gokudera's pride still hasn't recovered. Tsuna himself is still fuming over Lambo's inclusion. Maybe it was because all of his guardians so far had died before he found them, but he had never even considered the Bovino as an option (granted, mostly because he was a _child_ , what on _earth_ was that idiot Iemitsu _thinking?_ ). Throughout the entire fight for the Lightning ring, Tsuna had been terrified, his Will close to the surface, ready to bring Lambo back at a moment’s notice, and wasn't _that_ a horrible thought. It was a lot harder to muster up the same level of concern for his other guardians - oh, sure, he cared, he cared a lot, and seeing the vicious beat down the Varia's, quite frankly, _insane_ storm had given his own had nearly sent him into cardiac arrest - but they were strong, they knew how to fight, and even if they had yet to fully actualize their Flames, their deaths and subsequent Reawakening's had released their internal limiters. They no longer felt pain the way living humans did. They were stronger and faster, even if they did sustain damage just as easily.

("Glass cannons," Reborn had nodded thoughtfully. "But there are ways around that. The pros far outweigh the cons in this scenario.")

Tsuna had intervened when he could sit still no longer, and it was clear that the Varia Lightning representative had no intention of letting Lambo live past his defeat. It had cost him the sky ring, but Lambo still had a beating heart and the ability to age past five, so Tsuna called that a win, no matter the disapproval Reborn had sent at him.

(Tsuna knew his tutor pretty well by this point, and knew Reborn was actually proud of him, for protecting his family.)

The battles for mist and cloud were all that remained, and some part of Tsuna _knew_ , just _knew_ , that Xanxus would not let him go without a fight.

That was just fine with Tsuna. After seeing what Xanxus and his people had done to Tsuna's family alone, he could not, in good conscience, allow him complete power over a mafia family that was also a clan of Necromancers, and various other practitioners of the arcane.

(He would reclaim the sky ring.)

[x]

When the time for the mist battle arrived, Tsuna prepared, reluctantly, to hand the ring over when his intuition struck through him like it only had once before.

 _Mukuro_ , some small, wounded part of him whispered deep inside, filled with hope, wonder - and surety.

Tsuna had never doubted his intuition before this moment, Reborn had beaten that into him at the same time he had beaten the squeamishness out, but... _how?_

 _Legit question, here,_ Tsuna poked his subconsciousness' way. _Seriously, how?_

His mind didn't answer him in words, but the vague impression of a shrug and _idfk_ reached him.

And that was when Tsuna met Chrome. Chrome was one part Nagi, one part Mukuro, and all _his_. His Flames reached out before she had even walked through the doors of the gym and Sky met Mist in a rush of _mineminemine_.

As Chrome wondered in and up to Tsuna, slipped into his personal space and pressed warm lips to his cheek with a soft, questioning greeting of " _boss?_ " Tsuna surreptitiously slipped the Vongola half mist ring onto her finger.

 _Yes_ , this motion said.

Chrome smiled, and Tsuna could sense Mukuro shining through.

"Well?" The Cervello said. "Is this the CEDEF's Mist representative?"

"Yes," Tsuna said clearly. "This is the one that will become Vongola's Mist guardian."

The Varia chortled at Tsuna's words, but he didn't flinch like he once would have, and Chrome remained steadfast.

(To his intuition, his words rung true, like he had recited a prophesy of old.)

[x]

It wasn't until the entire Varia fiasco had been resolved (and Hibari _had_ turned up for his match, and had claimed the cloud ring as his own, surprisingly) that Chrome approached Tsuna for what she wanted, as he knew she would.

(The full sky ring of the Vongola now glinted on a chain around his neck, and it was with a smile that Chrome slid it onto the middle finger of his right hand before pressing a kiss to it.)

"Boss," she said seriously, meeting his eyes as her grip tightened on her hand. "Do you...you know what I'm here for, don't you?"

Tsuna nodded. "I figured it out, after your battle with Mammon. Your organs, Mukuro," here he sent a sad smile her way. "You want to die, don't you."

It wasn't a question.

Chrome took it as such though, and answered him. "Yes," she said breathlessly. "And I want you to be the one to do it."

Tsuna stilled.

(Chrome took the initiative. His right hand, which still held the Vongola ring, was lifted up to be placed against her neck. She curled Tsuna's fingers around her throat and tilted her head back, eyes closed, in a twisted parody of a loving caress. Tsuna could have sworn he felt the presence of Mukuro hum eagerly, waiting, _wanting_ , under his fingertips.

"Please," Chrome whispered. "Let me be with him forever.")

And then there was heat.

[x]

Since meeting the Sawada boy, Reborn had come up with a theory.

That boy should have been born a mist.

The world was cruel, to grant such a small and shy child the draw and pull of a sky, but none of the charisma. He would have been nothing more than a smorgasbord for the bullies and other demons of childhood.

After all, among all the horrors and evils of the world, children were quite often the cruelest, the most malicious.

If, instead, he had been born with the properties of a proper mist class, maybe he could have hidden himself in the shadows, like he so desperately wanted to. Maybe he could have been _safe_.

(But as Reborn saw the way he gravitated towards his mist - the girl-boy-guardian that was his first -

\- "And _last_ ," Tsuna insisted, to no avail. -

\- kill, he couldn't help but think that, just maybe, the boy had found _his_ mist, after all.)

[x]

"Congratulations, Dame Tsuna," Reborn said. "You win the prize of having the most functioning dead guardians in history. I'm pretty sure you're going to be the only mafia boss ever with _all_ dead guardians."

"The cow brat is still alive," Gokudera pointed out _helpfully_ , emphasis Tsuna's, because that _was not helpful at all, Gokudera-kun_.

"True," Reborn hummed, and hefted up Leon, in the form of a gun. "I could fix that for you if you wanted, Dame Tsuna. Go for a complete set."

"Abso _lutely not!_ "


End file.
